Apparatus for treating illuminating-gas



2 Sheets-Sheet 1. I KNAPP. APPARATUS FOR TREATING ILLUMINATING GAS.

(No Model.)

Patented Aug. 11, 1896.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. 1. KNAPP.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING ILLUMINATING:v GAS.

No. 565,464. Patented Aug. 11, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC ISAAC N. KNAPP, OF OIWIAHA, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNITED GAS IMPROVEMENT COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING ILLUMINATING-GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,464, dated August 11, 1896. Application filed August 8, 1895. Serial No. 558,577. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC N. KNAPP, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State 5 of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Illuminating-Gas, of which the following is a specification.

The principal object of my present invention is to remove or extract tar, entrained matter, and vapors, such as condense, at ordinary temperatures, from illuminating gases, such, for example, as carbureted water-gas, and to this end my invention consists of I the improvements hereinafter described and claimed.

In practising my invention, the temperature of the gas may be reduced to about 125, more or less, by any appropriate means, and

this temperature is suitable for extracting tar and entrained matter. A considerable velocity is then imparted to the partially-cooled gas and to its tar and other entrained matter, so that they move in a predetermined direc- 2 5 tion and impinge upon fixed vanes or plates which extract the tar and entrained matter, because the direction of motion of the globules and vesicles of the latter. is not, by reason of their weight, readily changed,

0 and because the gas escapes from and around said plates or vanes by reason of the fact that the direction of its motion is readily changed.

The nature, characteristic features, and

3 5 scope of my invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof, and in which A Figure 1 is a top or plan view of apparatus embodying features of my invention. Fig. 2

is a side elevational view of the same. Fig.

3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, a is a casing or housing, which may be supported in any convenient manner, and which in the present instance is of cylindrical form. This casing or hous- 5o ing is or may be provided with hand-holes a, having suitable cover-plates.

a is an inlet that extends from the top of the casing or housing a downward through it to a point near its bottom. Beneath the bottom of the inlet a is located a revoluble eX- tracting or centrifugal discharge-wheel b. As illustrated in the drawings, this extractin gwheel comprises top and bottom plates, wherof the top one is provided with an opening I), that communicates with the inlet a and is provided with radial arms 19 and b slightly curved at their outer ends, as shown, and whereof the arms 5 are longer than the arms 11 In the exemplification of my invention shown in the drawings the extracting or centrifugal wheel I) is mounted upon a shaft Z2 revolubly supported by means of the bearings b and by means of an adjustable stepbolt 1), carried by a yoke 5 b is a gas-tight stuffing-box, and b a pulley to which power for rotating the extractingwheel is applied.

0 are a series of vanes or plates fixed, for example, to the casing or housing a and arranged around the periphery of the extracting-wheel and disposed at an inclination to the radial position, as shown.

d is a fluid offtake, and e is an outlet for clean gas.

The preceding description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, will enable the skilful mechanician to understand the construction of an apparatus embodying my improvements; consequently I shall pro- 8 5 ceed to describe the mode of operation of the same in connection with the practise of my invention in its application to the production of carbureted water-gas.

The temperature of carbureted water-gas after leaving the fixing-chamber of, for instance, the well-known Lowe type of apparatus, is reduced, for example, by means of a tubular condenser or other suitable device (not shown) to Fahrenheit, more or less, 9 5 whereupon the partially-cooled carbureted water-gas enters the inlet a and passes thence through the opening 17 into the extractingwheel I), which is rapidly revolved. The globules and Vesicles of tar and entrained 10o matter, as well as the carbureted water-gas, are thrown OK with considerable velocity from the periphery of the extracting or centrifugal wheel by the rapidly-moving arms Z) and b and impinge upon the fixed vanes or plates 0. These rapidly-moving globules of tar and other entrained matter may not, by reason of their weight, change the direction of their motion suddenly; consequently they impinge upon and adhere to and flow or fall from the vanes or plates 0, and thus escape from the gas current, whereas the carbureted watergas, being exceedingly mobile, changes the direction of its motion rapidly and escapes from between the plates or vanes into the interior of the housing or casing a, from which it is passed by way of the outlet 6 for subsequent use, treatment, or storage. The tar and other matter extracted from the gas by the vanes or plates 0 may gradually accumulate at the bottom of the casing or housing, from which it may be removed by way of the fluid offtake (I, hand-holes a, or otherwise, as preferred. Obviously the extracting-wheel b may be run at the proper speed for causing it not only to impart sufficient velocity to the gas for causing it to be cleaned by the vanes or plates 0, in the manner above set forth, but also for causing it to operate as an exhauster and suck gas through the inlet (02 from the fixing-chamber and generator, so that the pressure of gas from the point of generation to the extracting-wheel may be kept below the pressure of the atmosphere, which is a desirable condition under which to break up the enriching hydrocarbons by heat.

If from any cause the extracting -wheel should be stopped during the period of gasmaking, or if its speed should be insufficient to produce a partial vacuum, no harm can be done or injury inflicted, because the openings between the arms 11 and b of the wheel c011- stitute perfect by-pass connections through which the gas may travel.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which my invention relates that modifications may be made in details without departing from the spirit thereof. Hence I do not limit myself to the precise construction and arrangement of parts hereinabove set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings; but,

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Apparatus for extracting tar and e11- trained matter from illuminating-gas which consists in the combination of a centrifugal. discharge-wheel, a casing arranged around the periphery of said Wheel, fixed plates or vanes projecting inward from said casing and arranged at inclinations to radial positions, and an outlet from the casing for the clean gas, substantially as described.

2. An apparatus for treating gas comprising the combination of, a casing or housing, an inlet adapted for communication with a gas-generator and extending internally to near the bottom-of said casing or housing, a revoluble wheel disposed beneath said inlet and provided with arms having openings be tween them that communicate with the inlet and with the interior of the housing or ;ing the combination of, a casing or housing provided with an inlet adapted for connection with a gas-generator and with an outlet for clean as a centrifiwal wheel having passages communicating with the inlet and Width the interior of the casing or housing and adapted to impart velocity to the gas and entrained matter, fixed vanes or plates disposed around the periphery of said wheel and in the path of the gas and its entrained matter, and a yoke-bearing and stufl'ingbox for revolubly supporting said wheel, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I- have hereunto signed my name.

ISAAC N. KNAPP.

\Vitnesses:

ISAAC bATTIN, J OHN M. RoGERs. 

